I was told that the gravitational force for hours orients the mass in the dough ball downward toward its base. And, if you use the base (which is denser and heavier) as the garnished face, then the baked dough may experience a minute loss of puff, depending on the temperature of the oven. Moreover, since the base seems to be denser than the face, it may be less susceptible to tears.

This being the case, and suppose one wanted to dress the face, would one avoid exposing the face to pressure while shaping and stretching? In other words, might there be structural disadvantages to pressing the face into a surface while shaping and then flipping it to dress it? Surely there is no absolute answer, however, I do think it's an interesting point of inquiry.

EatItalian.com had the rare opportunity to document a Neapolitan pizza training class given by Master Pizzaiolo, Roberto Caporuscio of Keste' Pizzeria & Vino in NYC and Peppe Starita from world famous Pizzeria Starita in Naples, Italy. Learn how to make 'real' Neapolitan dough, fresh mozzarella and techniques handed down from generations.

I was just wondering if anyone had any issues in understanding what they are saying?I'm Italian and I live in the states but I can't really understand what language they are speaking?Can anyone subtitle the video, please ...

I've been maintaining an awareness of face positioning for quite some now-

Me also. I always put the bottom to the top when I cooked on the 10 stone. Somehow I convinced myself that the bottom was wetter and burned more easily if it was on the bottom. Thats what a newbie gets for thinking.....

I was just wondering if anyone had any issues in understanding what they are saying?I'm Italian and I live in the states but I can't really understand what language they are speaking?Can anyone subtitle the video, please ...

I really wonder what "ammaccare" means ... does anyone knows?

Ammaccare is not a word. Are you referring to "prima devi amare la pizza e puoi `e business"?

Dear Nbickett, you asked, "Suppose one wanted to dress the face [of dough ball], would one avoid exposing the face to pressure while shaping and stretching? In other words, might there be structural disadvantages to pressing the face into a surface while shaping and then flipping it to dress it?"

I am not sure if I fully understand your question. One way or other, whether the face of dough ball is pointing upward (away from the marble top) or downward (against the marble top), the face will be inevitably pressed into the surface either directly or indirectly while shaping the dough disc. However, some pizzaioli hardly let the face be directly pressed against the work surface. (Please, check out the following youtube link below.) I would assert that a dough disc fashioned in this manner would yield a softer crust than a dough disc that is manually pressed against the work surface on both the face and base. Have a delightful weekend!

I struggled with framing the question because, as you pointed out, either way one is apply pressure to the face, however, you in fact interpreted the question correctly -- the point on whether to flip the face while stretching. Thanks for the link, I will give it a shot tonight!

I struggled with framing the question because, as you pointed out, either way one is apply pressure to the face, however, you in fact interpreted the question correctly -- the on whether to flip the face while stretching. Thanks for the link, I will give it a shot tonight!

Dear Nbickett, while the method demonstrated in the youtube video seems easy and effortless, it does take some practice and patience to master it. However you may have already reached that level of mastery. I have seen many people who impatiently dismiss the method as useless when it does not yield good results the first time they try it. Good day!

EatItalian.com had the rare opportunity to document a Neapolitan pizza training class given by Master Pizzaiolo, Roberto Caporuscio of Keste' Pizzeria & Vino in NYC and Peppe Starita from world famous Pizzeria Starita in Naples, Italy. Learn how to make 'real' Neapolitan dough, fresh mozzarella and techniques handed down from generations.

I've never seen anyone make the dough balls before tearing them off before... interesting. but what happens if they need to add/remove some dough to make it the proper weight?

They don't.

They have been doing it for so long they know how much they need, it's not exact every time but they are usually within a couple grams of each other. Pasquale Makishima has a video dementrating this balling technique and he weighs each one after and they are all close to each other in weight and some the exact same. This technique is used for speed. Some places in Naples are making hundreds and some close to a thousand pizzas a day. If they had to cut, weigh, add, subtract each dough ball they would be balling all day.

They have been doing it for so long they know how much they need, it's not exact every time but they are usually within a couple grams of each other. Pasquale Makishima has a video dementrating this balling technique and he weighs each one after and they are all close to each other in weight and some the exact same. This technique is used for speed. Some places in Naples are making hundreds and some close to a thousand pizzas a day. If they had to cut, weigh, add, subtract each dough ball they would be balling all day.